motherhood • wifehood • workhood

Music Monday: Need You Tonight

I know I talk about a lot of my favourite music, and it usually falls into the range of pop tunes and boy bands. In the late 80’s, just as I was entering high school, I was listening to George Michael, Rick Astley, Debbie Gibson, and other bubblegum pop artists.

My friends had started introducing me to new wave and alternative rock bands, such as The Cure, Simple Minds and Depeche Mode. But then I heard INXS. This small Australian band, that had been around for a while, made the move overseas in the early 80s, but didn’t make too many waves until around 1987.

I’m not sure they really fit into specific genre. They certainly didn’t fit on my shelf of records; yet their hybrid sound – a mix of rock, dance and new wave left an impression on me.

As did Michael Hutchence.

I begged my parents for that Kick album for Christmas one year, and from the moment I got it, it went into regular rotation in my room. I spent hours singing along to every song. I even taped the album onto a cassette tape, so I could listen to it on my Walkman.

I have fond memories of walking to school, listening to Kick all the way. I also have fond memories of trying to walk to the beat of songs like Devil Inside, which is hard to do, because the beat is so fast!

As if I haven’t made myself feel old already, I found out the other day, that this album is 30 years old this year.

Thirty! 30! 3 decades!

What?!

I also found out that it was their most successful album, yet only had four songs that made top-ten, including the aforementioned Devil Inside, New Sensation, Never Tear Us Apart and only one song made it to Number One; Need You Tonight. The album eventually made its way to multi-platinum status, but they could never recreate that success. Ten years later, Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room, and the world lost another great talent.